Calorie Burning Exercises

We are continually reminded that we, as adults, should be doing 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week in order to keep healthy. This is generally classed as anything which leaves us feeling a little out of breath and hot. It can even be housework. But many people also like to know how many calories they can expect to be burning, on average, with different types of exercise.

Listed below are some of the most common exercises and the typical number of calories a person of normal weight can expect to burn off when doing them.

All calorie counts are for 30 minutes doing that exercise unless otherwise stated. The calorie counts are also based on someone who weighs about 11 stone. Generally, the more you weigh, the more calories you burn during exercise and clearly, if you are overweight, you will need to lose more calories to achieve a healthy weight.

Aerobics - 211

Badminton - 248

Basketball - 282

Cycling - 280

Cleaning the house - 123

Cooking or food preparation - 90

Cricket - 178

Dancing - 158

Football - 292

Gardening - 176

Golf - 190

Mowing the lawn - 194

Painting, papering - 155

Rugby - 352

Running - 282<

Scrubbing floors, on hands and knees -184

Skiing - 248

Squash - 422

Swimming - 211

Tennis - 246

Volleyball - 142

Walking normally - 83

Walking dog - 123

Walking briskly - 142

Of course, the important thing to remember here is that all of these figures are approximations based on one average person. There are many factors which can change the way your body burns calories off. Whether you are a man or a women will make a difference, as will your height.

An 11 stone person would not usually be overweight but if you are very short then there is a chance 11 stone for you could be overweight. In which case you may burn calories more quickly but you may also be more unfit and in need of losing more weight than someone of the same weight but taller.

Metabolism also plays a huge part in how many calories we burn off. Some people have fast metabolisms which allow calories to be burnt off very quickly during exercise. Other people have slower ones which mean more needs to be done to burn them off. The more exercise you do, the faster your metabolism should get. In addition, the more exercise you do, the more you will be able to do as your body gets used to periods of hard work. You need to be exercising for at least half an hour to see dramatic differences so it is important to build up stamina.

Lastly, the key thing is how intense your exercise is. The figures above generally refer to a person who is doing each activity with moderate intensity. But if you exercise more intensely and raise your heart rate more, you will burn more calories. Similarly, if you plod through exercise and barely break sweat, then you cannot expect to have burnt off as many calories. The harder you work, the better results you will get – it is as simple as that.